Starquest: Catburglar of the Constellations by John C. Wright, Tuscany Bay Books, May 13th, 2025
In my last review, I mentioned that this book was then upcoming but though I bought it soon after release, I didn’t finish it until the other day. As I write, I have the fourth book sitting on my shelf and waiting to be read which I will get to in a month or so. John C. Wright has also recently revealed the cover for the fifth book along with a second Kickstarter though there is no release date as of writing.
Catburglar of the Constellations is familiar but somewhat different from the previous two novels. The main reason I should state at the outset is that it is more consciously part of a serial than the previous two which I would say could be both read and enjoyed in isolation. There is no great climax or pay-off at the end here and Athos Lone sits this one out and is only mentioned a few times. Judging entirely by the cover, he will make a significant return in the fourth book.
The third entry required me to cast my mind back to portions of the first book which included the events of the Prologue and a character introduced in Chapter 5 named Centurion Thret Ansteel; a loyal servant of the hidden Empire. Roughly the last third of the book is devoted to developing this character further as well as his connections with those already introduced. Lyra Centauri returns as does Napoleon Lone and both for only a couple but still compelling chapters.
The titular Catburglar, known as the ‘Merry Catburglar’ is soon revealed to be none other than Mevrian Lone, the little sister of Napoleon and Athos. Given I want these reviews to be spoiler free, I had initially stopped short of revealing this but Wright makes this fairly obvious early on and it is even hinted at in the blurb. This adds a second mischievous young woman to the cast of characters but she certainly differentiates herself from Lyra in a number of ways. I’ll leave the finer details for the reader.
There is an obvious nod to the femme fatale villainess Catwoman from the Batman franchise. The art on the front cover even resembles Anne Hathaway’s portrayal in Christopher Nolan’s third Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises. This gives me an opportunity for a brief aside about the way Catwoman has been portrayed (especially more recently), in both comics and film. As mentioned in the previous review, Wright is bringing back the whimsical fun of old pulps and serials with this series and comic book characters have been no less ill-served by “modern interpretations” than the Star Wars franchise. The Dark Knight wasn’t always dark — at least tonally and a lot of the fun has been sucked out of more recent adaptions by making them overly so.
It is hardly a surprise then that Catwoman has been latched onto as a vehicle for miserable female writers to promote lesbianism and male hatred — both totally foreign to the character. And worse still, these Lady Macbeths further unsex her in ugliness to better reflect themselves. This is all to miss the delightful tension between Batman and Catwoman — certainly based on physical attraction but also the good he sees in her heart despite her notoriously light-fingers. This was something mutually appreciated by male and female audiences alike.
One could accuse Wright’s Merry Catburglar of being derivative but it is another example of his righting creative wrongs with this series. And I should add some context that the character in Wright’s novel is no foil to a masculine hero — at least not yet. Both Mevrian Lone and her alter ego are influenced by but distinct in their own right. Much like Selina Kyle was to all the naughty brunettes found in 1940s film noir.
To finish up, while I have made clear much of this book is spent developing the world and characters, it is not done in the boring filler way one associates with many comics and more commonly with many Japanese animated series. There is a point to all that happens including plenty of further context for events already mentioned — particularly for Centurion Ansteel. The one criticism I have for this book is related though and that is the way it occasionally jumps back and forward in time does get confusing. It is usually made clear but I did feel the need to flick through the first two in between chapters. Still, this does also mean a second reading of the series once complete will be much easier to appreciate as all the narrative threads are woven together.
So to those already onboard, I recommend Catburglar of the Constellations and for those not sure, the first book will be a fun way to find out.
As I was preparing this I was rather chuffed to discover that John C. Wright himself linked to my previous review on his blog recently. Thank you for sending some traffic my way and as I stated, I will continue to review this series as I get to it.